Each week, Jim al-Khalili invites a leading scientist to tell us about their life and work. He’ll talk to Nobel laureates as well as the next generation of beautiful minds to find out what inspires and motivates them and what their discoveries might do for us.
Jim enters the multiverse with Astronomer Royal Martin Rees. He’s worked on the big bang, black holes and the formation of galaxies but wants to know if there’s life elsewhere.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/fastforwardradio/2010/10/07/fastforward-radio--strange-new-worlds
Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon discuss the implications of the discovery of the first potentially habitable planet outside the solar system. What does the existence of Gliese 581g imply about the existence of more such worlds? What does it tell us about the potential for life elsewhere in the galaxy.
If we’re ever to travel to a planet such as 581g, how will we get there? And what will motivate us to go?
Tagged with exoplanets universe space gliese 581g technology future stars astronomy
Black Holes seem to have bad press that is largely undeserved. This lecture with professor Ian Morison explains what Black Holes are, and how we can discover them even through they can’t be seen.
This program was recorded in collaboration with Gresham College, on October 27, 2010.
Gresham Professor of Astronomy Ian Morison made his first telescope at the age of 12 with lenses given to him by his optician. Having studied Physics, Maths and Astronomy at Oxford, he became a radio astronomer at the Jodrell Bank Observatory and teaches Astronomy and Cosmology at the University of Manchester.
Over 25 years he has also taught Observational Astronomy to many hundreds of adult students in the North West of England. An active amateur optical astronomer, he is a council member and past president of the Society for Popular Astronomy in the United Kingdom.
At Jodrell Bank he was a designer of the 217 KM MERLIN array and has coordinated the Project Phoenix SETI Observations using the Lovell Radio Telescope. He contributes astronomy articles and reviews for New Scientist and Astronomy Now, and produces a monthly sky guide on the Observatory’s website.
The article began by triumphantly listing a series of stunning astronomical breakthroughs that the famous British astronomer, Sir John Herschel, had apparently made "by means of a telescope of vast dimensions and an entirely new principle." Herschel, the article declared, had established a "new theory of cometary phenomena"; he had discovered planets in other solar systems; and he had "solved or corrected nearly every leading problem of mathematical astronomy." Then, almost as if it were an afterthought, the article revealed Herschel’s final, stunning achievement: he had discovered life on the moon!
From: http://thememorypalace.us/2010/01/episode-24-the-moon-in-the-sun/
Since its launch in 2007, the website Galaxy Zoo (www.galaxyzoo.org) has become the largest astronomical collaboration in history, involving more than 250,00 volunteers in classifying galaxies. Humans outperform computers at this kind of visual classification, and the results from Galaxy Zoo have been spectacular. As well as reviewing the intimate connections between the delicate process of galaxy formation and the evolution of our Universe, this talk will include a review of the weird and wonderful objects identified by Galaxy Zoo users and a few tales from the ups and downs of citizen science.
http://www.perimeterinstitute.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view
Tagged with science astronomy galaxy zoo
Neil Turok on the "Endless Universe" and the Q2C:Quantum to Cosmos Festival.
http://www.tvo.org/cfmx/tvoorg/theagenda/index.cfm?page_id=7&bpn=779637
In science fiction it’s easy to hop into your spaceship and blast off for other stars. But the true distances between stars, and the limits of relativity make interstellar travel almost impossible with our current technology. What would it really take to travel from star to star, exploring the galaxy?
http://www.astronomycast.com/space-flight/ep-145-interstellar-travel/
The acclaimed British-born theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and astrobiologist Paul Davies is the director of the Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science and co-director of the Cosmology Initiative, both at Arizona State University. He is also a member of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence’s (SETI) post-detection committee. Among his numerous scientific distinctions, Davies is a recipient of the prestigious Templeton Prize for his work on science and religion. His writings include the bestsellers The Mind of God, About Time, How to Build a Time Machine, The Fifth Miracle, and The Goldilocks Enigma. In his provocative new book, Davies challenges existing ideas of what form an alien intelligence might take, how it might try to communicate with us, and how we should respond if we ever do make contact. Free Library Festival (recorded 4/17/2010)
Rupinder Brar from the Science and Physics Department at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology presents his competition winning lecture entitled Exoplanets: The Search for Other Earths.
It is thought planets have dynamos in their centre. This explains the intensity and geometry of the magnetic fields found on the surface. The dynamo is in the form of a fluid sphere of molten iron which is churning around producing electric currents and magnetic fields. But Mars has a strange field. Only the southern hemisphere has a strong magnetic field, emanating from the crust. Secondly, this crustal field is very strong, about ten times what’s found on Earth or other rocky planets. This is one of a range of amazing anomalies with Mars. Saturn has other problems. Its fields are too perfect. Sabine Stanley explains.
From: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/scienceshow/stories/2010/2881442.htm
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